Line for safety belts



C. T. LEWIS Dec. 17, 1946.

LINE FOR SAFETY-BELTS Filed Sept. 4, 1945 Patented Dec. 17, 1946 U NITED STATES PAT EN T. V O F F ICE LINE FOR SAFETY BELTS Charles T. Lewis,Oklahoma City, Okla.

Application September 4, 1945, Serial No. 614,352

2 Claims.

My invention relates to lines adapted to be attached to the belts orharnesses of persons whose duties must be performed a considerabledistance above ground, and relates particularly to safety lines for oilwell derrick-men.

Men who work on the fourble-board of an oil well derrick usually wear aheavy belt which is connected at the rear to the derrick by a safetyline. The line most commonly used is a threequarter or one inch manilarope of sufficient length to allow the derrick-man free movement.

to any part of the platform or fourble-board in the upper part of thederrick. In order to allow the derrick-man free movement, the safet linemust be several feet in length, and should he slip from the board, he issubject to a fall of a few feet before the end of the line is reached,

At the present time, a manila rope is used because it is more flexiblethan steel cable, but a rope of the size mentioned is cumbersome andheavy to drag around. A steel cable having the necessary factor ofsafety is smaller in diameter, but is too stiff to be practical.

A safety line for the purpose set forth must be able to withstand theshock of a mans falling body without snapping in two. A manila rope,after being exposed to the elements for a few days, has little or noresiliency, and a steel cable likewise will not stretch lengthwise inany appreciable amount.

It is the prime object of the present invention to provide a safety linefor the purpose set forth which will combine lightness of weight andflexibility, and which will at the same time have ample resistance to asnapping force.

In reaching these three results, the line of the present inventionembodies an inherent resiliency which permits some elongation, thusmaking it possible to use lighter material than would ordinarily bepossible.

Another object of the invention is to provide a safety-line which may beassembled from standard and well known materials and elements.

A further object is to provide a safety line which is comparativelycheap to manufacture.

Other objects will be apparent from the following description when takenin conjunction with the accompanying one sheet of drawings, wherein;

Figure 1 is a fragmentary elevational perspective view illustrating oneembodiment of the invention; and,

Figure 2 is a similar view of a slightly different embodiment.

Like characters of reference designate like parts in the figures whereinthey occur.

In the drawing:

The reference numeral 1 indicates, as a whole, a usual heavy duty safetysnap-hook having a spring actuated pivotally mounted tongue 2 and a loopor eye 3. Three small metal cables or strands 4, 5 and 6, have loops 7,8 and 9 respectively Which engage within the eye 3, and which are heldagainst removal therefrom by three suitable cable clamps ID. The cablesare preferably made of soft or annealed twisted wire.

The cables 4, 5 and 6 are braided together loosely throughout theirlengths as shown, and at their other ends are formed loops l I, I2 andI3 which pass through a suitable metal ring l4. Cable clamps l5 act tohold the loops ll, l2 and i3 engaged within the ring M.

In use, the snap end of the device may be first passed through a safetyring it which forms a part of a usual safety belt, not shown, is thenpassed around a member of the well derrick, not shown, and is finallysnapped into the ring N.

If desired, the ring l4 could be made a part of p the safety belt. Insuch a case, the snap end of the device will be looped around thederrick. memher, and the snap will then be snapped around the cables.

A device made as described, of three small metal cables braidedtogether, has sufficient flexibility to retard no action of the worker.Should the worker fall, the loosely braided cables offer sufficientresilience to somewhat dampen the shock e iled by the abrupt stoppingthe fall of his body.

Before the full extent of the device can be reached, the braided cables4, 5 and 6 must tighten about each other, and for this reason, thesnapping force of the falling body is dampened.

In Figure 2 is illustrated a slightly different embodiment of theinvention. In this embodiment, the construction is identical with thatof Figure l, except that the wire cables 4, 5 and 6 are braided around asoft fibrous rope or cable I! which extends throughout the major portionof the length of the device. Small wire loops I 8 act to hold the cables4, 5 and 6 in close engagement with the end portions of the rope H.

The object of the rope or core I! is to increase the resistance to asnapping shock, without materially detracting from the flexibility ofthe device.

Obviously, the device could well be formed of more than three of thewire cables if desired,

and other slight changesin construction could 3 well be made withoutdetracting materially from the practicability of the device. Forinstance, the ring l4 could be supplanted by another one of the hooks I,or other attaching elements could be used in lieu of the snap-hook I andthe ring I4. I therefore do not wish to be limited to only the structureshown and described herein, further than I am limited by the scope ofthe appended claims.

I claim: g

1. A safety line including: a hook having an eye; a ring; a plurality ofpliable twisted strands loosely braided together throughout the majorportions of their lengths, the similar ends of said strands being passedthrough said eye and being doubled back upon themselves, the oppositeends of said strands being passed through said ring and being doubledback upon themselves; and a plurality of clamps, each clamp engaging oneof said ends and anchoring it to its own strand.

2. A safety line including: a hook having an eye; a ring; a plurality ofpliable twisted strands loosely braided together throughout the majorportions of their lengths, the similar ends of said-

